The Loss Factor
by Sad Little Smile
Summary: Artemis uncovers a Loss Factor that could destroy him, Holly, the others. The possibilities of what might happen cause him to hide the truth from the others..but how long will that last? Rated T for possible mild swearing in the future.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:I don't own anything or anyone from Artemis Fowl.**

* * *

_I'm closer to the future  
Than I was yesterday.  
The highway of the future  
Is in each break of day.  
I frame my future  
By the decisions I make.  
I encounter the future  
If diligent steps I take.  
Plans for the future  
I made in the past.  
Today I face the future  
Yet it won't last.  
Depending on the future  
Is so inefficient.  
Because the so-called future  
Is vague and transient!  
'You'll live well in the future  
If the present is well lived!'_

**Features of the Future**_  
~By Robert Reuben

* * *

_

_Finally, it was done._

_The fruits of several hours of thought, and several more hours of stressing labor, lay within grasp. It was a freshly printed pile of papers; nothing seemingly special to the casual eye._

_So why did he not want to look? To read what he himself had written, had pieced together, and now, finally finished?_

_It was a beautiful piece of work; beautiful and horrible._

_With slightly trembling fingers, he took the papers, and read the first line in a whisper._

"The factors of Loss, derived from the Factor itself."

_The rest, he dared not utter; not even in the deathly silence of night._

_The power to choose life, or death, is something no one should possess. Least of all a child; even if that child is a genius._

_So now you know._

_Even Artemis Fowl had fears._

* * *

"Butler, old friend, you don't have to creep up on me."

The old manservant relaxed, a small smile stretching his face for a split second before disappearing. "Not that I could creep up without you noticing, Artemis." he peeked over at the blank computer screen, before meeting the mismatched eyes in front of him.

"You've finished, then?"

Artemis nodded wearily, wanting nothing more than to collapse into bed and sleep for a day. He knew Butler was waiting for him to explain his project away, but Artemis could no more do that than he could stab his bodyguard in the chest. There were some things that even an experienced adult such as Butler could not handle.

And Butler, being Butler, was too polite to pursue his curiosity. "I'll leave you alone, then."

He began to walk out of the room, then half turned back. "Artemis, if you need anything..."

"I'll let you know."

And as the door shut behind his manservant, Artemis leaned forward, resting his face in his hands, feeling the inescapable feeling of gloom descend over his mind once more.

Knowing what lies in the future can do that to a person.

* * *

"You have four messages." the mechanical voice of the answering machine droned out, then it switched to the easily distinguishable voice of Holly Short.

"Hey Artemis; this is Holly, obviously. How are you?"

"Artemis, hi; call me back as soon as possible, okay?"

"It's been three days, Artemis. Why aren't you calling me back?"

"Artemis, if you don't call me back, I'm going to Foaly, and not just for aboveground clearance!"

Slightly annoyed, but still amused from the peeved tone of Holly's voice, Artemis sat on his bed, gazing at the fairy phone on his finger. For some reason, he just couldn't find the motivation to call her back, even with the tone of worry in her voice. It was interesting, to have someone like Holly worry about him. At the moment, though, he just couldn't bring himself to care.

_It would seem that depression is more powerful a force than many people reckon_, he pondered dully, attempting to keep his gaze away from the half-read thick stack of papers that littered his bedroom desk.

Anyone could read them now, but he doubted it would make sense to any but the most intelligent minds. Of all the people Artemis knew, he knew of only three who could possibly read the Factors and come out with an answer. After that, it wasn't even sure if they would retain their sanity, so he would rather not reveal what he had found to them, and possibly keep them safe.

_Safe? What am I kidding myself?_ Artemis sighed, leaning back and closing his eyes. _Even if I didn't tell them, it would happen; the Loss Factor is an independent variable in this equation, but even if it were manipulated, it would remain the same, because of other factors that will change as well..._

While he was floating lazily in this train of thought, a soft tapping came from the glass of the right corner window, across from where he slumped. "Come in," Artemis murmured somewhat sluggishly, then gave a short, harsh laugh at the sound of his own voice.

The window swung outwards, then closed with a sharp click after a moment of being rattled from the fairy's shield vibration. Holly materialized, sitting on the window sill, then dropped down to the floor, landing with no sound at all.

"I called you four times, and you didn't answer any of them. That was two days ago!" she hissed, sounding very put out. After flicking a desk lamp on, she turned to Artemis, and looked closer.

"What did you do this time, Mud Boy?" she sighed, her anger finally departing.

"Nothing of enormous consequence," Artemis half-muttered, and pulled himself into a sitting position.

"You look horrible," she informed him, then took a seat on his desk chair, turning back and forth by the swinging of her legs. "Are you all right?"

* * *

**This is an idea I got while I was IMing, and here, finally, is the prologue and the first chapter. Sorry about the shortness of the prologue and stuff, but I promise that the next chapters will be longer. Updates will be slow or fast, depending on how much writing time I have, but I'll try to update around once every week or so, or once every two weeks.**

**Anyhow, constructive criticism and comments are all welcome, and I hope you all enjoy reading this!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:I don't own anyone or anything from Artemis Fowl, though I do own Alina Blau. :) **

* * *

_I send up scatters of bees before me as I wander over flowers  
Grass and petal and soft-morning moist in the treads of my shoes  
Time the stern-faced doctor, prescribed tranquility.  
Mournful as Indian summer and regrets  
Shoe hone slick with grass perspiration,  
The simple dance. The memory lack.  
The noon race to inspired.  
The fight and fall and follow back to black sky nights.  
Grieve the soldier blades of grass as I sweep on,  
Oblivious strung high matter no matter or mind paid  
Downwards. Sleepwalk and dream talk and pay my  
Mobile homage to sunrise and hopeful._

**Walking**  
_~By Joe Palmer_

* * *

"Not quite all, but mostly. It depends on your definition of 'all right', though." Artemis blinked, surprised once again that he was speaking rubbish again.

"You aren't all right, I can tell now," Holly commented, then moved closer, taking his hand and sending questing tendrils of magic up his arm, to test his health. They targeted the fuzziness in his brain, and banished it immediately, leaving him to finally truly be aware of his surroundings.

"Thank you," he said, somewhat more briskly than before, though inside he could still feel the creeping depression. _Some types of depression even magic couldn't cure completely,_ he supposed, though this was something a bit more than depression.

"You're welcome," she sighed, then glared straight into his eyes. "So, why were you not answering my calls?" Artemis fell temporarily silent as she asked the inevitable question, and almost laughed as her gaze pierced him. Holly would always be the same Holly; he doubted that even time would change that. "I even coded the last one red; if Haven was on the verge of being destroyed or Opal Koboi's location was pinpointed, and that was the message asking for your assistance, what would you have done then?"

"The possibility of either of those happening is small, and at any rate, I knew it wasn't the case. Perhaps I did not reply, but I did listen; after all, I am not an idiot." he raised an eyebrow at Holly. "You did seem needlessly concerned in your messages, though. If I were lost or dead, the People would lose no sleep over me, especially considering what I have done in the past."

Already shaking her head, Holly tapped her fingers in an impatient frenzy on the arm of his swivel chair. "That's not really true, and you know it. Maybe the Council has had problems with you in the past, but I think you've done more good than harm over the years we've known you." _Just not to me, _she added mentally, though she had forgiven him for that incident a while ago.

"I daresay the Council has had more than problems with me; my mindwipe was clear evidence of that. Though, it has been a few years since then...perhaps they have changed, if only a little." Artemis shook his head, his mind still slightly unclear. _Depression is such a dulling emotion..._

"A little," Holly agreed, then fell silent for several minutes. When she finally spoke again, she was back to her more casual self. "So. Foaly thinks he knows where Opal's hiding out, though even an idiot probably could have found her, for all her brilliance. She's sequestered somewhere in the United States, most probably somewhere around Minnesota. Why she would go there is beyond me, but maybe there's someone or something she's after?"

"Knowing Opal, it's almost certainly someone. Who, though, is a mystery as far as I'm concerned, but we can find that out in due time. Where did you park the shuttle?" Artemis asked, pulling on a heavy trench coat. It was the middle of December already, and even a few seconds of exposure outside could result in more than a chill.

Holly followed him down the hallways, shielded. "And you know I brought a shuttle how?" though she could already guess. Artemis Fowl was a genius, after all was said and done.

"If you were planning on taking me along, I doubt you'd want to take me in these conditions. It's hardly fit for even a fairy to fly in, let alone a human." he replied, looking back over his shoulder before continuing on. "Also, you hate the cold, so why come in only a regulation suit and freeze when you could just as easily swipe a shuttle for warmer and safer passage?"

"That's all true, I suppose," Holly wrinkled her nose. "I think you know me a bit too well, Artemis."

* * *

After piloting the shuttle in silence for half an hour, Holly finally depressed the autopilot button and turned to Artemis. "So. You seem to have a fairly good idea of what Opal's up to. What do you suspect; that's she's after someone, or something?"

"I honestly do not know," Artemis admitted to her, something that the Artemis of several years ago would never have done. "Opal is insane, and therefore, I can't predict everything that she's going to do. To be blunt, I can't predict unpredictability without having a somewhat large amount of uncertainty, so it's better not to try and risk our deaths." _Even if our deaths might come anyway,_ he added mentally, a fraction of his earlier gloom settling over him once more.

"I see," Holly winked at Artemis after she'd brought the old lie back to life. "Actually, I don't, but that's okay; so long as one of us does, we should be fine. I was never one to wait around trying to decipher wordplays, puzzles and the like while there was action to be had, in case you never noticed before."

Shaking his head ruefully, Artemis closed his eyes a moment, reassembling the information he had been picking apart and reassembling about Opal's possible hiding place. "We're going to Minnesota, then? As I recall from spending a summer researching all fifty of the states, there isn't anything particularly extraordinary there."

"It certainly has a few defining features; it is called the 'Land of 10,000 Lakes', though it has somewhere around 11,000, and it is also known as the Northern Star State...but all of that is nothing that Opal wouldn't know already or be interested in. Did she have any family connections there when fairies still lived closer to the surface, under Minnesota particularly?"

"Not that I know of, and I've been studying Opal's file since Trouble got on my case after our last adventure. I didn't really mind, though;" she added hastily. "I was going to read it anyway. He's got the whole of the LEP, captains and up reading it, just so they'll be prepared if they ever happen to have the bad fortune of running into her. Of course, the writer of the file, which just so happens to be Foaly, doesn't know everything about Opal. We don't have the complete history of all the older families, so there could be quite a bit missing."

"I understand. So, other than the guess that she's in Minnesota, what else do we have?" Artemis asked, only listening with half an ear.

"Well...there is a girl that Foaly's been keeping his eye on for the past fifteen years; apparently she's got a bent for finding the People. After an incident in which she had to be mindwiped, Foaly has kept tabs on her."

Nodding, Artemis turned to a computer and began typing. "It's better than nothing to start on. What's her name?"

Holly consulted her helmet for a moment, then replied with, "Alina Blau,"

"Her name has a German origin; very interesting..." Artemis trailed off, already consumed by thought.

"Well. Let's find her, shall we?"

* * *

***hides* Yes, I'm bringing in an OC...but have no fear; there won't be Mary Sues here! *brave face* Well...anyhow, she's not going to be your normal awesome good OC; Alina will definitely be different...but you'll just have to wait and see. :) I promise you this, though; the Loss Factor isn't going to turn into a slushy love story(no offense to anyone; it's just not my style); I totally promise you that. I may not be the best writer, but...yes. I'd stop writing before I let that happen.**

**It's a little longer than the first chapter, I think; it's certainly got more words...I'll try and make the next chapter even longer, too. ^_^**

**Anyhow...I hope you all enjoy reading this; constructive criticism and comments are welcome, as always, and thanks everyone who reviewwed! *glomps***


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:I don't own anything or anyone from Artemis Fowl, sadly.**

* * *

_Leave an empty spot in your garden,  
so that the fairies have a place to dance.  
Leave an empty spot in your mind,  
so that fairies may run and prance.  
In the garden, they spread pixie dust all over the leaves.  
When the moon hits the garden just right,  
you can see it shimmer lightly, in the cool night breeze.  
You can see them, too, if you just say please,  
they'll dance before you with relative ease._

**Wild Fae**  
_~By Jordan

* * *

_

Stomping from the house, Alina yelled back, "We can't all be perfect gods like you!" and slammed the door behind her. Fuming, she started clomping down the steps of the back deck until she made it to the ground. From there, she jumped over the edge of a terraced garden into the snow below, sinking knee-deep into the fluffy substance. It was beautiful outside, but she took no notice of the natural beauty, so occupied was she with her angry thoughts.

She was heading for the small creek further back in the expansive, semi-wooded back yard and kicked up snow while she was walking, taking out her rage on the unfeeling snow that wouldn't talk back. Wearing snow pants, a thick coat, and gloves, she didn't have to worry about getting wet, so she went ahead and flopped down just short of the crick. After fumbling around in the snow for a stick and finding one, she dragged it in the water, letting the constant flow of water calm her down.

Her parents could be so self-righteous sometimes; Mother had been ragging on her about not taking her shower in the morning. Sure, hygiene was important, but really, all the nagging did was make Alina refuse taking a shower even more vehemently than before. It wasn't that she didn't like being clean; it was just the concept of wasting half an hour or more in the shower, most of that time being spent on her thick, brownish blond hair.

It was so thick that she had to viciously brush it every morning to get all the loose hair out, and even then, she still had knots and rats at the end of the day. Sure, it was somewhat pretty, and amazingly curly too, but sometimes it was such a pain to take care of.

She heard the crunch of snow behind her, and glanced back to see her younger sister Elsa standing a few feet behind her, tapping the ground with the tip of one boot, almost shyly. "Mama went shopping now, so you can come back in if you want..." she trailed off, then joined Alina.

"Want to go make hot chocolate?" Alina asked Elsa, after a long moment of silence. "You go make it for yourself, and you can watch a movie too. I'll be in after a while." she ruffled her little sister's hair affectionately, then gave her a small push in the house's direction.

When Elsa was gone, Alina picked herself up, walking further into the trees where her small 'fort' resided. It was under many aspen trees that leaned inwards and tilted away from where the creek ran a few feet away, so it was the perfect spot when it had a tarp spread over the top. After settling herself down, Alina closed her eyes and just listening. In a moment, she had heard the slight hum of an engine, and slowly stood, opening her eyes once more.

She searched around her, turning in a circle several times before pinpointing the direction of the humming with hearing. _Fairies,_ she guessed, but made no move towards them. The last time she had found some of them, they had knocked her out with some sort of hypnotizing eye-stare, and when she woke, she had been bombarded with a splitting headache and couldn't remember clearly what had happened.

There was also something else that had been missing when she'd woken. Her parents had come into her room where she'd been sleeping, and for some reason, they'd been terribly sad. They said something about a brother of hers being lost, and when she made no reply, they had left immediately, not answering any of her questions. The reason for her response was that she could remember no such brother; she'd only ever had Elsa as a sibling, hadn't she?

From then on, her parents had changed enormously, to the point where her mother wouldn't look straight into her eyes, and her father ignored her altogether, unless she argued with her mother. In that event, he would roar at her and some severe punishment would be bestowed upon Alina after he had yelled for a sufficient amount of time..

A grimace tore across her face, distorting the normally blank features, and she narrowed her eyes in the direction of the vehicle the fairies were hiding in. Her harbored feelings were confused; part of her didn't truly care for holding a grudge against these fairies, and the other, childish part wanted to put them through the same thing she'd been through. Picking up a heavy branch, she brought it down into the crick, splashing herself slightly and driving it deeply into the mud underneath the water.

Having no current desire to wake with the same aching, lasting pain and disorientation, she turned away, not looking forward in the least to a burning cup of hot chocolate and a melancholy, lonely afternoon.

* * *

"That's odd," Holly commented as they watched the girl turn away and trudge back to the house. "She definitely knew we were here, though. I wonder if her mindwipe didn't take..." she trailed off, and watched Alina disappear into the house.

"Perhaps not? Any normal human wouldn't have noticed the hum of the shuttle; the sound is too minute," Artemis turned back to his computer, calling up the complicated formula he'd been working on before Holly had called his notice to the girl. "Perhaps you should go _mesmerize_ her? I can operate the shuttle perfectly well, so I'll be fine alone in here."

Before Holly could say anything in reply, Artemis turned around, eyes slightly wider than usual. "Opal's in the immediate vicinity. The DNA tracker that Foaly developed just flashed up; she's in the house. I think," he whispered, his voice still mostly calm, "That we should probably go in."

"Agreed!" Holly gasped while slipping a human child's coat on, tucking her Neutrino into a pocket, and bolting out the now-open door. She immediately headed toward the house, floundering in the snow with her comparatively short legs. Artemis followed after a short hesitation, the results of the equation he had just finished flashing in front of his eyes. The loss Factor he had just calculated, displaying exactly what would happen next, had seemed to burn itself into his eyelids, and he felt blinded for a moment.

If Opal didn't kill the girl, there was a chance that she had something else, something worse in mind. Why the once-pixie would choose Alina was a mystery currently, but Artemis would guess that it certainly wasn't for something good. If things turned out the way the equation had predicted, and there was a 99.9% chance that they would, then much more serious action would have to be taken.

Still, Artemis hesitated at the thought of revealing to Foaly, Holly, and the others the devastating properties of the Loss Factor. Even after everything that the centaur had been through with the rest of them, Artemis didn't completely trust the centaur, and with good reason. He continually was finding bugs that Foaly had placed on his computer, even after he had promised to stop.

Caught in his indecision, Artemis was several seconds behind Holly getting out of the shuttle, and he paused to close the door and make sure that the shuttle wouldn't be discovered. Even so, he caught up to Holly in less than a minute, her slow progress through the deep snow enabling him to easily catch up. He grabbed her hand, helping her along, and started running once more, both of them desperate to make it into the house and try to prevent something that was inevitable.

* * *

Alina slammed into the house, her temper worse than it had been fifteen minutes ago. She stomped past the stranger that was sitting in a chair in the living room and into the kitchen, opening the fridge before she realized that there was someone she didn't know sitting in her living room.

Cautiously peeking around the corner, she noticed immediately the person's dark hair, and the exquisite beauty, along with the fiendish light that gleamed in them. That light worried Alina more than she wanted to admit, but there was something...intriguing about the girl. Stepping into the room after she had pulled her hair up in a ponytail, Alina cautiously ventured, "Hello?"

"Good day, mud child," the figure answered, and the voice was even more intriguing than the girl's appearance.

Bristling immediately, Alina answered with a somewhat stiff voice. "I'm not a child; I'm 13 years old. What are you doing in here?"

Taking no notice of Alina's tone, the figure introduced herself. "My name is Opal, and that question is inappropriate. When speaking to me, you will refer to me as Miss Koboi. You have a vendetta against fairies, correct?"

Alina found herself nodding, and a fire sprang up inside of her, wiping away all other emotions. "Yes...Miss Koboi. They stole an entire part of my mind," she said, simply. What more was there to it?

"They have stolen so much, haven't they?" Opal sympathized, then a morbidly beautiful smile spread across her pretty face. "Would you like to help me destroy them?"

* * *

**Soo...a little more is revealed! But...what will Alina choose now, when faced with such a decision? DUN DUN DUN! *dramatic music***

**Comments and constructive criticism in reviews are always, always welcome; I hope you all enjoy reading this chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:I don't own anything or anyone from Artemis Fowl. It's a shame, in my opinion. ^+^**

* * *

_Open your eyes and come with me  
To a place with dancing bumble bees  
A turtle flies, a dragon roars  
A catfish meows, and a lion snores_

_We'll climb the steps, we'll take it slow  
We'll watch the elephant laugh and blow  
The kangaroo and joeys, too  
Will be a friend to me and you_

_We will fly a kite and eat ice cream  
We'll travel far to explore our dreams  
Go where you like and really have fun  
We'll dance and play till the setting of the sun._

_~By Susan Adams__

* * *

_

As Artemis and Holly silently let themselves into the house, they heard Opal's words.

"Would you like to help me destroy them?"

Holly's blood went cold, and she froze for a moment, until Artemis hissed at her to shut the door. The cold that was seeping in would possibly alert Opal and Alina to their presence, and that would not do at all, so she gritted her teeth and slid it shut as quickly and silently as possible. She was unable to stop it from thumping against the door frame, but the two in the other room seemed not to hear.

Shoving Artemis off to the side slightly, Holly slipped past him, stealing into the kitchen and peeking, shielded of course, around the corner. Alina was sitting, looking stunned, on the piano bench, and Opal was dominating the couch, looking as much like herself as she always had. Holly had to remind herself that this was Opal of the past, because she had no human qualities, unlike the present Opal, who had attempted to become a mud maid.

Artemis came up behind Holly, easily walking silently, and while she was busy looking over the corner, he looked around. It wasn't the largest house, but it did look comfortable. The Christmas decorations were up already, so there were lights strategically placed over several doorways, twined around banisters, and dangling from the eaves outside. All in all, it was a beautiful house, but there was an atmosphere of uneasiness and anger, so it was a little uncomfortable.

He turned his attention back to listening to Opal and Alina, expecting the worst, and was certain that he would not be disappointed.

* * *

"I...well..." Alina stammered, knowing what she wanted, but battling with her conscience. She didn't want to kill anyone; merely to get her memories back, and have revenge on the time she had lost them. Maybe she doesn't mean kill them, she decided, then spoke. "Yes. I want to help you, Miss Koboi."

"Excellent," the girl clapped her hands and smiled, somehow more maliciously this time. "I will require you to sign several contracts, of course, and in blood, if you can manage it. Ink is fine as well, but I find blood much more...binding." the girl ran her tongue along her lips, then seemingly conjured a feather pen and papers from air, then handed them to Alina.

"O-okay," Alina whispered, unconsciously, and steeled herself for a stab. She ended up merely pricking the middle finger of her left hand, and signing off with that. The contracts were written in some different language, and Mother had told Alina never to sign anything without knowing exactly what it said and meant, but at this point, Alina truly didn't care. She signed the papers easily, using the same, boring signature that she'd been taught, then handed pen and papers back to Opal Koboi.

On the paper, Alina D. Blau was signed, easily legible. The D was for Danielle, though Alina had never truly liked her middle name. Somehow, she felt much more uneasy now that she had signed it; as if her future was no longer in her hands.

She turned to go bandage her finger, but before she could, Opal grabbed her hand, flushing a torrent of something through her system, and causing the small wound on her own hand to seal up. "There," Miss Koboi said, then dragged Alina down to sit beside her. "Now, my dear Captain Short, you and that annoying Fowl boy may come out. Yes, I know you're there; an idiot would have known. As it happens, I am not an idiot, though you two are sure to think so of yourself very soon."

As Alina watched, a little stunned, a short, fiery-haired girl and a taller, teenage boy walked into the room and sat, the girl on an opposite chair and the boy on the piano bench, eying the keys. It looked as if he wanted to play it, so Alina was about to offer to let him, though she had no idea why, when the girl spoke.

"Why are you dragging an innocent girl into this, Opal?" the one who must have been Captain Short spat, eyes narrowed like a cat's. "Why do you need her?"

Opal's eyes glittered right back, and she hissed, "Because of those idiotic Brill Brothers. They are no longer fit for serving me. This girl, however," and here Opal stroked Alina's hair, causing a shudder to run up and down her spine. "Is much more naive, and more suited than they are. Besides; she hates fairies; why not give her the chance to have revenge as well?"

"You're not that kind," the Captain murmured, then gazed at Alina. "Don't go with her; she's not planning on letting you go once you have what you want."

"Besides," the boy added, "She's insane by all records. You don't know what she might do, or lead you to do."

Alina very, very slowly shook her head, her confusion slowing her down. "I have to. It's the only way to get my memory back. I don't suppose you would have my memory waiting around in a CD somewhere, would you? Exactly. I have no choice," she continued, her words speeding up. "Not that my choice matters anyhow. I matter to no one, except for Elsa...and she is too young to be burdened by someone like me. So no, I will not change my mind."

"She can't," added Opal slyly. "She's signed the documents already, and they are more binding than any other documents."

"Because they're in blood?" inquired the boy, seemingly interested.

"Not only because of that," continued Opal, "But because of the type of document; they bind us together by blood. I have patented them myself; unless I choose to release her – which won't happen at any rate – she is bound to me until my death, or hers. She cannot escape now."

* * *

"D'Arvit!" Holly swore under her breath, her eyes fixed on Opal with the intensity of hatred and a touch of sorrow. Even if Alina did hate fairies, Opal was someone Holly wouldn't wish on her worst enemy. Heck; she wouldn't wish Opal on Opal; the crazed pixie was unbearable. Slowly, stealthily, Holly began tugging her Neutrino out of its holster, but Opal noticed the movement immediately.

"Nice try, captain, but it will not be working this time. Put it on the floor, or I will be caused to take drastic measures. May I remind you," Opal glanced at the room in which Elsa was giggling while watching some wacky children's movie. "That there is a vulnerable minor in the vicinity? Don't try anything."

Scowling, but knowing that she couldn't risk something happening to Elsa, Holly carefully set her Neutrino on the floor, kicking it towards Opal. "No, I don't need it," Opal explained to Alina. "It's DNA-coded; we couldn't use it. Even if I bothered taking the time to reprogram it, it wouldn't be as effective as one of my own guns; Neutrinos don't kill very easily."

Laughing, Opal directed Alina to tie Artemis and Holly up with reinforced piton; after a moment of strained hesitance, Alina did was Opal ordered. After Opal left the room and Alina was alone, tying up Artemis and Holly, Artemis found his voice. "You don't have to do this," he urged, and Holly joined in.

"You can choose not to," she whispered, trying to meet Alina's eyes. "Opal isn't a good person to be involved with; she's a murderer. Believe me, I know." Holly watched, beginning to despair when Alina shook her head.

"I can't," the girl whispered, her face twisted, as if it were undecided about which emotion it wanted to exhibit. Finally, it settled with sadness, and she sighed, continuing. "I...I feel like I can't say no. Even if she told me to kill you, I don't know if I could stop myself...did you see before? I tried not to tie you both up, but...I couldn't resist. Maybe she's right about the contract or something...I didn't know that something could be so binding." she winced, then tied off the knots that bound Artemis and Holly back to back.

"They're like that sometimes," Artemis commented, attempting to reassure the girl, if only a little. "You really should have had her read it to you first...but that's in the past, I suppose."

Alina wrinkled her nose. "I suppose...can I ask you to do something for me?"

"It depends on what you want done." Artemis and Holly replied at the same time, then looked at each other over their shoulders.

"Keep Elsa safe," Alina whispered. "Knowing my parents, they'll give her heck when they find out I'm gone. Oh, and one other thing. Don't come after me. It really is better off this way, for me at least."

"I promise I will to the first," Holly whispered back. "But not to the second. Opal isn't something that should be unleashed on humans or fairies, so I won't promise that we won't follow you. I'll try not to hurt you when we meet again."

"Thanks, I think..." Alina hesitated when Opal called for her, but she couldn't resist the pull of Opal's voice. "'Bye...and I'm sorry."

* * *

**DUN DUN DUN! Chapter four; I can't believe I'm already to chapter four! *faints***

**Anyhow...yeah. Alina = Evil slave. Is that too cliche? Ah well...she'll change, don't worry. I won't tell you which way she'll change yet, though; that's the mysterious part! But yeah...I repeat, Alina is not going to be a love interest for Artemis; I totally promise you that. ^_^**

**So...comments and constructive crit are always welcome, thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoy reading more! *glomps all her readers***


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:I don't own anything or anyone from Artemis Fowl.(Ain't it a *hic* bloomin' shame? :P )**

* * *

_We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by  
embracing one another._

_~Luciano de Crescenzo

* * *

_It was several minutes after Opal and Alina were gone before Holly and Artemis began trying to release themselves from the piton cord binding them together. "This is just wonderful," Holly grunted as they lay on their sides. An over-strenuous attempt to get free had caused them to tip over, and now they were in a somewhat uncomfortable position, and still unable to move very much. "We're going to be stuck here until Retrieval shows up to drag us out, and they'll blow everything out of proportion. D'Arvit that Opal!"

"Swearing isn't going to help us get out of here," Artemis pointed out in his usual annoying fashion. "But do be a bit quieter; we don't want to attract unneeded attention, if possible. Are you sure you don't have any kind of projectile or knife that we can use?"

"Of course I'm sure," Holly hissed at him, her annoyance coming through her voice clearly. "If I had something like that, I would have tried to use it already!"

"What about magic?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow that she couldn't see. "You could use it to burn through?"

"No," she replied unhappily. "Magic is fine for melting through plastic ties, but piton cord is made to be resistant to flame, magic, and it's incredibly hard to saw through."

"Oh...right. Holly," Artemis added, wanting to reassure her. "It's okay. We'll get out of this; we always have in the past, and we can do it again."

After more wiggling, Holly, still unable to get free, laid still. All of a sudden, in the silence following her stop to moving, she heard light, quick footsteps coming up the stairs from the TV room and into the kitchen. A moment later, they came onto the soft carpet of the room Artemis and Holly were laying bound in, and suddenly, a curious face was right in front of Holly's.

"Hi! Are you an elf?" Elsa's face cocked to the side, and a tiny smile was twitching at her lips. Her hair was in two pigtails, and they hung down, tickling Holly's forehead as Elsa bent over her. After an uneasy moment, Holly glanced over at Artemis to watch him nod.

"Err...yes, I'm an elf. Can you untie us?" Holly asked after seeing Artemis nod. It might not be the best thing to tell Elsa, but at least they would be able to get free.

"Okay," Elsa smiled even more widely, causing her eyes to close for a moment before she set to work. "I'll have to get a knife," she added, after trying unsuccessfully to untie the knots several times. "Don't worry, I'll be careful."

She disappeared for a moment, then reappeared holding a paring knife with a three-inch blade. Using it, she began sawing at the piton, though it still took time.

"Elsa, where are your parents?" Artemis asked as he sat up, massaging his upper arms and wrists. Though they hadn't been bound for an extremely long time, he wasn't the most muscular person, so it hurt him more than it would Holly.

Cocking her head once again, Elsa sat on a stool she'd pulled out from under an old rollover desk and swung her legs. "Mama's at the store, and Daddy's at work still. Daddy gets back at 5:30, but I don't know how long Mama will take. She spends a long time shopping, though..." she looked at the clock, then back at Holly and Artemis. "It's only 2:00...so you can stay and play with me, right?"

Artemis winced, then answered as he would to one of his brothers. "Not ri-" At this point, Holly interrupted him, shaking her head in his direction for a moment.

"We can't stay, Elsa," Holly said gently, realizing the cause of the girl's confusion. "Alina's gone away, and we have to find her, and bring her back to you. Can you tell your mom and dad that Alina's having a sleepover with her new friend Holly, and she won't back for a while? It would really help us."

"Sure!" she nine-year-old said brightly, and seemed to brighten up a bit more. "Who's Opal?" she asked suddenly, proving to Holly that she'd been listening at least a little to their conversation before.

"She's not a good person," Artemis put in. "You wouldn't want to meet her, I assure you."

"Oh, okay. I'll tell Mama; she and Daddy won't mind that Aly is gone for a little bit. They're still sad about Casey," Elsa explained, as if they knew who Casey was and what had happened. "And Aly gets sad sometimes too, because she says she can't remember. She told me once, and you can't tell anyone else," Elsa's eyes darted back and forth, as if she were about to share an enormous secret. "She told me that fairies took her memories away, after she found some of them. She said that they can hypnotize you by looking in your eyes, too."

Glancing uneasily at Holly, Artemis was about to reply when Elsa interrupted once more. "Can you hypnotize people?" she asked Holly, cocking her head again. "That's so cool!" she exclaimed when Holly hesitantly nodded.

"One more thing, Elsa," Artemis added, before the little girl was about to skip down the stairs and back to her movie. He gestured at Holly to come forward, and she caught on to his idea. "You don't have to tell Mama or Daddy about us, okay?" she murmured, using a touch of the _mesmer_ on Elsa.

"Oh...okay!" she whispered, then bounced away, calling over her shoulder, "I'm really good at keeping secrets, you'll see!"

* * *

Alina had her hands over her eyes, not because she was afraid, but because Opal had ordered her to keep them there until they were off the ground. Because she had never flown in a plane before, she couldn't tell when they were in the air, but when the shuttle tipped slightly, she couldn't help herself. She grabbed onto the armrests of the seat she was strapped into, and with eyes wide, gasped at the sight around her.

They were high, so high in the air that she could no longer see the ground through the veil of clouds that separated her from the Earth. An odd sense of joy filled her, and she laughed, flinging her arms wide. There was a viewscreen that wrapped around the entire cockpit, so there was nowhere that she could see. She looked up, and the stars twinkled merrily back at her, as if they knew exactly what she was feeling.

"Quiet!" Opal snapped at her, concentrating wholly on flying the shuttle. It wasn't extremely difficult, but she liked to put her best into anything she did. If anything she did was not her best, than it would mean that everything Foaly did was better. That infernal, piggish centaur! she hissed at the vision of Foaly, head back and ears splayed, laughing at her. That image haunted her every day, and would until the day she died. Which, if she had her way, would be never. That was a slightly disturbing thought, but she was sure that if she could someday finally kill the centaur, then the vision would persist no more.

"Sorry," Alina whispered, her happiness vanishing right away. You would think that being yelled at all the time would make it easier to bear, but to her, it seemed to be worse every time. Even a small snap could have her in tears, though she was getting better at making her face an emotionless mask. For instance, right now, she kept her face emotionless, biting her tongue viciously, until it bled. It worked, though she pretended to yawn for an excuse to wipe her moist eyes off quickly. She was wishing more and more that she'd never met Opal, let along seen her. It was no use now, though, and she realized this with no small amount of regret.

After Opal set the shuttle to autopilot, she unstrapped herself, then walked into the passenger section of the shuttle, beckoning for Alina to follow. When she came through the door, Opal was seated already in another chair, leaning back, and waiting for something.

"Wh...what do you want me to do?" Alina asked, almost too scared to ask, but managing to make her voice mostly steady for the question and stepping a bit closer.

"Are you honestly that stupid?" Opal asked, not opening her eyes but curling her lip distastefully. "I don't want you to do something, I order you to do it. Massage that," she pointed to one bottle sitting among several others. "Into my scalp. It has been _so_ long since I have had a good massage."

Hesitantly, Alina picked up the bottle, poured some of the oil contained within it onto her hands, then began rubbing it into Opal's hair.

"Not like that, idiot!" Opal's fingers demonstrated with easy dexterity exactly how she wanted Alina to massage the oil in. However, try as she might, Alina couldn't get her fingers to work exactly the same way, and was becoming quickly frustrated.. After several minutes of failing to meet Opal's satisfaction, the pixie jumped up, cheeks flaming, and struck Alina across one cheek, hard.

With eyes filling with tears, not from sorrow, but from pain and rage, Alina looked into Opal's eyes, glaring her already-budding hate. A fast-moving trickle of blood spilled from a long cut caused by Opal's long fingernails, and Opal smiled sweetly.

"I shall have to train you to perfection," she whispered, running her claw-like fingers through Alina's hair, almost lovingly. "But," the pixie added, "You have already shown how easily you hate. Very good, but I will teach you utter loathing."

* * *

**Wow. I still can't believe I'm to chapter 5; I've never gotten this far into a longer fic before! *faints* I'm totally having fun writing it, and thank you everyone who has reviewed; it really ****means a lot to me. :) Updates probably will be a little slower this week because I have school still(*sighs*), but once Christmas vacation **_**really**_** starts, I'll be writing more. ^_^**

**Also, I'm not exactly sure, but I'm planning on this fic having anywhere from 20-26 chapters, though it depends on how much writing time I have. Oh, and for those who would, it'd be awesome if more people voted on the poll I have set up in my profile. It doesn't take that much time; just a few clicks of your mouse, and it's really appreciated. ^_^ Same with reviews; you don't have to...but it's really awesome. :P**

**I hope you all enjoy this chapter, comments and constructive crit are always, always welcome, and thank you to everyone who's stuck with me this far! *applauds readers and reviewers***


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:I don't own anyone or anything from Artemis Fowl(so sad... :P ). I do, however, happily own Alina and Elsa. :) **

* * *

_Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love._

_~Neil Gaiman  
_

* * *

When they'd finally made it back to the shuttle, Holly contacted Commander Trouble Kelp, informing him that a mindwiping team would be necessary, and that they were going after Opal. She'd handed the communicator to Artemis so he could give the Commander specifics and she could drive. Before Artemis could hang up, she asked for the communicator back for a moment.

"Commander?" she asked hesitantly though the phone-like object.

"Yes, Ho – I mean, Major Short?" he answered, sounding eager for some reason.

"If you could," she whispered, after looking around for a moment. "Spare the little girl's memory. She doesn't know anything, but she should be able to remember her sister. The parents are the only ones who really need their memories erased."

After a pause, Trouble spoke again. "Developing a soft spot for another human, Major?" Before she could say anything more, whether protest or threat, he hung up after saying, "I'll do what I can."

"Thanks," she mumbled inaudibly, then turned her attention back to driving the shuttle, narrowly missing the trunk of a majestic oak tree. In truth, under her skin, she was boiling with anger, feeling that Trouble was somehow to blame for all this. Even if it wasn't true at all, she contented herself with thinking this until she could calm down.

Artemis was tick-taking away at the keyboard of one of his numerous computers that was currently sitting on his lap. He seemed a bit paler than usual, and he seemed to droop everywhere; his hair, his head, his limbs; these were all much more limp than a normal, healthy human.

He was, indeed, deriving the new Loss Factors; it was, in comparison, something a bit like a drug. Once he had started, it was nearly impossible to stop; after all, if you know what is to come, you can anticipate, can you not? So far, the results had been unappetizing, in the least. He could see, so far, that their chase was completely useless; Opal had everything planned to perfection.

Even now, he realized that she had sabotauged their shuttle; they were unable to get much more than a hundred feet off the ground. It would not be good enough for quick flight, especially if they were going to be passing through many cities, which was the fastest way to go anywhere.

Clicking the lid of his laptop shut when the factors began to greatly increase his depression, Artemis leaned heavily on his hands, hiding his face in them. It seemed so useless; everything that they were doing. The Loss Factors did not lie; he had been extremely careful to calculate without mistakes. Without a mistake, the formula would accurately process the other factors he added in, and any results would be at least 99.9% correct, without a doubt.

Holly noticed his renewed depression, and with an exasperated sigh, pushed the button for auto pilot and slipped out of her seat, walking back to join him. Taking his face in her hands, she flushed his system with magic, expecting an immediate reaction. The reaction was not what she had expected, however; Artemis pushed her hands away, keeping hold, but keeping them away all the same.

"It won't work," he said breezily, as if it were the most common thing in the world to be as depressed as he was. "It goes deeper than a physical or emotional condition; I suppose you should know. It is...deeply mental," he noted her skeptical expression, continuing. "I told you once that emotions cannot suppress someone of my intelligence for long; it is true. That doesn't mean, however, that I can't be affected by deeper, non-emotional conditions. Depression is not always physical or emotional..."

Jerking her hands away to cross them on her chest, Holly let her face remain in the familiar expression, one eyebrow raised. "Okay, so maybe it isn't. Tell me what's happening, then; I'd dearly like to know why magic won't work on you, how you apparently can predict happenings." she threw her arms in the air now. "Yes, I've noticed; how could I not? It's not natural, even for a genius; not even those with powerful magic can predict the future so accurately as you can. Tell me why, how, and all of that. Now."

He chucked, clasping his hands in his lap and crossing his legs. "That's a command, is it? Very well; I shall tell you, but this is something that cannot pass to Foaly, or Opal; any of them. It has a particularly...devastating property, especially for genii and other somewhat high IQs..."

* * *

Alina had refused to let Opal heal her, even to the point of locking herself in the small bathroom. If Opal truly wanted to heal her small cut, then she could have broken the door down and pursued the task, but her 'master' was a fickle person, flitting from one thing to the next, never dwelling on anything for very long. So far, all Alina could see that Opal truly dwelt on was her revenge, and not even Alina's along with hers; she seemed to have entirely forgotten her end of the bargain. Too afraid of her to try reminding her, Alina kept her distance from the pixie as much as was possible in the small shuttle.

They had stood, staring at each other for such a dreadfully long time that she could feel her eyes drying, beginning to itch. Then Opal had flounced off, seemingly pushing everything to the back of her mind, and Alina was left to wipe the quickly-drying blood from her face. It had bled a surprising amount and she had finally given up on wiping it off with a tissue, realizing that she needed something moist. On her way to the bathroom, Opal had seemingly materialized, reaching after Alina, saying that she wanted to heal her face. When the girl declined her offer, the pixie had sneered at her, hissing through her teeth, catlike, saying that if she didn't want relief from the sting of pain, it was fine with her; slaves needed to suffer pain occasionally.

So she was in the bathroom now, washing the dried blood slowly from her face. Maybe it was the fact that the person who had offered her a way to get her memory back, or the fact that she had left her beloved little sister behind, but either one, hot, heavy tears drifted down her face. Each one plinked lightly on the metallic sink, and the sound was almost musical, such an odd occurrence that a mirthless laugh drifted from her.

Looking at her face in the mirror, Alina had nothing but disgust for herself; what kind of good, sensitive person was she to get involved with someone as...fluttery, inane - as Opal? Her tears thickened for a while until she had cried herself out; alone and hugging herself she sat on the seat of the toilet. She decided that she would show no more emotion to Opal; obviously the pixie would use it against her. But how could she do that? So many people had told her she was the most emotional person alive; it was nearly impossible for her to hold tears in, unless she mutilated her tongue while they were brimming.

_I'm so sorry, Elsa._ she whimpered inside, hating that she was so weak and her left-behind little sister so amazingly strong and resilient.. _At least you'll be happy, without me. I hope you are, anyway..._

* * *

As she skipped up and down the stairs at home, Elsa laughed to herself, thinking of the girl and boy that she'd found tied up in the living room. They had been so funny! But they were nice, too, she decided. If I had friends like them, I would be really happy. I hope that Aly is happy; I miss her...

A knock on the back door downstairs startled her out of her mirth, and she hurried down the stairs. She wasn't in so much of a hurry that she forgot to tap the special rhythm on the railing as she jumped down the stairs. Aly had taught her to tap SOS out on it, and after a while it had become a loved habit. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she pirouetted, laughing as she made two full turns on the kitchen linoleum. Forgetting about the knocked door for a moment, she turned again, enjoying the tug of air on her ponytails and fingers.

More rapid knocks brought her attention back to the sliding door, and she glanced in that direction to see a curious troupe of little humanoid creatures tapping at the glass. Elsa tugged on the handle, frowning as it stuck tight. The ice sometimes got in the track, making it hard to pull open, and she wasn't the strongest nine-year-old. Aly had teased her about this, lovingly calling her a wimp as she had pulled the door open for Elsa. After a few more tugs, she held up a finger to the little people, telling them to wait, and started pulling harder.

Finally, after she had pulled as hard as she could and had a foot pushing at the wall to help her, she cracked the ice and managed to open the door a crack. From there, she was able to shove the door open wide enough to let the whole troupe of people in, and when they were all in, she slammed the door after them.

"Are you Holly's friends? She was her earlier, with a boy, and she said that my sister was having a sleepover with them." Elsa burbled on happily, unconscious that she was making them a bit uneasy. When one of them coughed, finally causing her to notice them again, she started with an "Oh!". Clasping her hands, she leaned forward. "You all are fairies too, right? Oh, oh, I love fairies! Holly was really nice; I helped untie them. Are you going to stay for a while? Do you want hot chocolate? I just saw Horton Hears a Who, do you like that movie?"

As she kept talking, not realizing that they were splitting up, hiding at strategic points in the house, Elsa followed the one in the lead. He seemed to dislike her following him, but made no move to stop her until he crouched behind the thick branches and sprouts of a series of hanging plants and small trees. Then, he spoke for the first time. "Let's play hide-and-seek," he suggested, his voice unmistakably that of Commander Trouble Kelp. "We're hiding, and you can seek first, okay?"

She agreed, and covered her eyes, backing into the middle of the room and plopping down onto the floor. "I'll count to twenty, okay? Twenty is a good number, Aly says. My favorite number is three, though." she pouted for a moment, then brightened up comically. "Aly says her favorite isn't twenty, but her favorite is seven! Are you ready for me to count yet?"

Before any of the Recon squad could reply, the front door swung open.

"Elsa? I'm home!"

* * *

**Again, wow. Chapter 6! :) Thank you to all my reviewers; I enjoy reading through all your reviews. :) **

**Now that Christmas and Christmas break have finally rolled around, I'll have more time to write, which will be good...I hope to have another chapter up Monday, maybe; it depends. :) But yeah...Merry Christmas everyone!**

**Ooh, so who's home now? Is it Alina? Is it Elsa's Dad or Mom? Is it someone else? WHO IS IT? :P Will come with the next chapter, I promise. Did I leave too many cliffhangers here?**

**Oh, and I'd like to remind everyone; if you liked this, you might read my drabble series as well; just go to my profile and find it; it's titled 'Dust Motes'; I really have fun writing those. ^_^**

**I hope you all enjoy reading my humble fanfiic(Heehee...)! Comments and construvtice crit are always totally welcome; even one review brightens my day up.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:I don't own anyone or anything from the Artemis Fowl series. Honestly; I'm not a middle-aged Irish man, am I? Nope. Just an almost-15 Minnesotan, and that's probably all I'll ever be...unless I go and publish a book someday. Hopefully!**

**Anyhow, though I don't own Artemis Fowl, I do own Alina and Elsa Blau, and the whole Loss Factor theory-idea-thing. :P **

* * *

_Nothing is as real as a dream. The world can change around you, but your dream will not. Responsibilities need not erase it. Duties need not obscure it. Because the dream is within you, no one can take it away._

_~Unknown_

* * *

"You have to come out and face reality sometime," Opal called through the door of the bathroom in a sing-songy voice. She was fast becoming annoyed with this weak, emotional human girl. What she had envisioned in Alina earlier she couldn't recall, except for the girl's odd resilience to magic. It had taken a considerable amount of magic to heal the small wound from the feather pen used to seal Alina Blau's contract.

This was the reason that Alina's memory had not been too severely effected the the _mesmer_ and mindwipe that had stolen the memories of her baby brother. Mindwiping might have been considered more technological, but there was a great deal of magic involved, without which the mindwipe was unpredictable. Her memories of her sibling was not to be effected by the mindwipe, but it had seemingly 'broken away' from the computers and devastated that corner of her mind.

"I don't want to come out..." Alina whispered, her tears now dry upon her cheeks and no other sign of her crying visible. She shifted, wincing as her numb body protested the motion by throwing up a response of stinging pins and needles. Standing shakily, she pulled a cup from the dispenser, taking a slow, long drink of water, then throwing the cup away. It was made of a material almost like paper, though she could tell that it wasn't paper at all.

"Well now,"Opal clicked her tongue, as if talking to a very small child. "Not wanting to come out is not going to stop me from blasting my way in there, is it? Come out, now." she waited a moment, and when she heard the faucet being shut off, she spoke once more. "I'm giving you fifteen seconds, little girl. You're not the only one who needs to use the facilities, after all." Tapping her foot in time to the counting in her head, Opal waited, one, two three...

On the eleventh second, Alina jerked the door open, pushing past Opal and into the somewhat expansive cockpit. She slumped into a bucket chair, massaging her temples, cogitating her fate in the next few days. For sure, she knew she wouldn't be able to stand much more of the pixie, and the thought that she was now bound to this monster was a horrifying undertone to her thoughts.

When Opal came out, she took a seat straight across from Alina, turning to face her with a smile that seemed sad for once.

"Is it not interesting how easy it is, to teach and to learn to hate? Parents may teach their children otherwise, but when they fight with one another, what does that teach the children? When children are taught that fighting and killing one another is bad, but their countries have wars, slaughtering each other by the hundreds, how does that teach anything but hate?

"So in truth, it is far easier to hate than to love. After all, when you hate, you need no regrets, because the only person you care about is you.

"What a twisted world we live in, with our inability to decide which we'd rather do; love - or hate our brethren."

* * *

"That is confusing," Holly agreed, a lopsided grin on her face. "I don't know why you bother reading it, though. Things are so much more natural without knowing how things will turn out. I don't want to know if I end up dead after this, because then I'll lose my confidence, my will to fight. I'm not going to give up on a fight half fought; that's not my style."

A rueful expression on Artemis's face expressed his opinion of her style. "Of course it's not your style; it never is. Isn't it better to know, though, because if you know what will happen, you will then know how to avoid it, if possible?"

She snorted, a most Holly-like expression of emotion, then gave him a skeptical look. "Honestly Artemis, where's the thrill in that? I don't want to know when I'm going to die, unlike so many mud men. I'll die when I die, and you'll die when you die. There's nothing we can do to stop death, and it's stupid to try." Noticing the change from emotion to emotionlessness on his face, she gentled her tone and continued. "Don't worry. I don't plan on dying in this mission, and you shouldn't either. Unless there's nothing left on earth you think is worth staying for."

"Well," he pretended to consider the thought, then finally smiled, hiding his true emotions behind a mask, as he had so many times before. "I don't really plan on dying either, unless there's a certain someone I absolutely have to save. Other than that someone and maybe a few other someones, there's nothing on Earth or under it that's worth living for.

"You know, even material things such as paintings and gold lose their value after a while. I suppose that, compared to people, those are all worthless. Then again, it depends on what kind of eyes you're looking through. The way I see it, certain parties are more important than gold or priceless paintings."

A long silence spanned between them, neither knowing what to say next. Holly finally broke the silence with a short laugh. "Don't get all mushy on me, Mud Boy; I've got a hard mission ahead of me, and there's no Retrieval or Recon for backup this time."

"Just like all the other times," he muttered, then looked up to her, his opposite-colored eyes sparking with energy he hadn't truly felt since their last adventure. "We, Captain, have survived more incidents, deceptions, and paradoxes without either Recon or Retrieval; why should we start needing them now?"

"Who said we needed them?" she laughed, forgetting for a while about the whole screwed up mess of the Loss Factor theory.

* * *

"Uh oh!" Elsa whispered, then ducked behind a chair. This chair happened to be the same chair that Commander Trouble was hiding behind, so they were squished together in the small space, Trouble attempting to keep his equipment from making any noise, and Elsa trying desperately not to giggle.

"Shh!" she constantly told him, though she was the one making all the noise. "Shh! You're making a lot of noise, Mr. Fairy!"

"Elsa!" her mother called once more, her voice resounding through the house, bouncing off walls and wood floors. "Where are you?"

"I'm hiding with my fairy friends, Mom! Be quiet now, okay?" Elsa laughed again, then hushed the poor squished Commander once again.

Her mother's heavier, treading footsteps crossed the living room and into the kitchen, apparently carrying something from the rustle of of paper and the click of cans hitting one another. "Okay then, Honey. Just make sure that you go upstairs and clean your side of your room, okay?"

Inching from behind the chair, Elsa stood, beckoning for Trouble to follow her upstairs. The entire Recon team followed with their shields switched on, then stopped as stock-still as possible as Elsa paused by the kitchen door. "Mom, Aly's gone to a sleepover with her friend Holly. She said to tell you."

With a snort, Mrs. Blau turned away, her attention on unpacking groceries now. "She can stay there as long as she wants; it's better in this house without her."

Continuing up the stairs, Elsa didn't notice two of the blurs break off from the group, entering the kitchen and watching her mother's every move. The Commander voiced his commands through his helmet, and with a small flash, Mrs. Blau was unconscious, sitting in a chair one LEPrecon had pulled up, and being hooked up to a mindwiping rig.

Elsa was already in her room, picking up stuffed animals and various other toys from the floor and piling them into a wicker chest in the walkin closet. Aly's bed lay crinkled and unmade, after she'd gotten out of it that morning, and underneath the pillow lay several of her sister's favorite books along with a booklight. After sitting on Aly's bed, Elsa pulled out one of the books, entitled _Someone Named Eva_. The book was easier than Aly's preferred level of reading, but it was 'still a good book', according to her sister.

As she carressed the smooth, shiny cover of the book, Elsa sighed, and for once, she understood. Aly wouldn't be coming back. Not this time. With this realization, the seemingly little girl missed her big sister more than she ever had before. In earlier times, she had perfect confidence and assurance that Aly would come home; after all, the things she did, such as camp and school and sleepovers, they were all only temporary. Sliding the book back under the pillows, Elsa set about the task of making her sister's bed, straightening most of the crinkles, though some were too deeply lined to be straightened.

When Aly hid her choice, prize books under her pillow, she would tell Elsa of all the things that fascinated her about the books, and why they were under her pillow. According to her, they gave her dreams when she could feel them, firm and reassuring under her head in the middle of the night.

Completely forgetting about the fairies, Elsa curled up, pulling the warm feather blanket over her child's body and snuggling up to the book-hiding pillows on her sister's bed.

_Maybe, if they give her dreams, they'll give me one dream._

* * *

**Wow! Chapter seven; I've never been this far into a fanfic before! ^^ I'll probably end up being sappy and doing the same, 'WOW!' thing every chapter...unless someone protests. :P **

**Anyhow, I'm sorry all about the lack of update; life has been kind of busy the last couple weeks, what with Christmas and New Year's...but I'll be trying to update at least once a week from now on. :) **

**This chapter's a bit shorter than the ones before, but it's okay, right? I finished it, realized that it wasn't quite long enough, but there wasn't really anywhere I could add onto, so I just left it this way. We'll just pretend it's as long as the others, right? ^^**

**Anyhow...the book mentioned, _Someone Named Eva_ is by Joan M. Wolf, and it's about a girl during WWII who is deemed a 'perfect' German citizen, with the right hair and eye color, the right face measurements, and all that, and what happened to her during that. It is fiction. Also, it's supposedly more for 6th graders, but I read it and loved it. As the person who recommended it to me said, it's not a happy book, but it is a good book. So yeah. If you're looking for something to read, so read this book! ^^**

**I've also got a new poll up in my profile, so go vote there, please. It doesn't take more than a couple clicks of your mouse, and it'd make my day. ^^**

**Comments and constructive crit are always welcome, and Happy New Year to everyone!(Tribute thing : this chapter is 2009 words long. :P)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:I don't own anyone or anything from the Artemis Fowl. It is rubbed in once again.**

**To salvage what little pride I have, though, I do own Alina and Elsa Blau, and the whole Loss Factor idea thing. Hey, at least it's something! :P**

* * *

_It was many and many a year ago,  
In a kingdom by the sea,  
That a maiden there lived whom you may know  
By the name of Annabel Lee;  
And this maiden she lived with no other thought  
Than to love and be loved by me._

_I was a child and she was a child,  
In this kingdom by the sea:  
But we loved with a love that was more than love -  
I and my Annabel Lee;  
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven  
Coveted her and me._

_And this was the reason that, long ago,  
In this kingdom by the sea,  
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling  
My beautiful Annabel Lee;  
So that her high-born kinsmen came  
And bore her away from me,  
To shut her up in a sepulchre  
In this kingdom by the sea._

_The angels, not half so happy in heaven,  
Went envying her and me -  
Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,  
In this kingdom by the sea)  
That the wind came out of the cloud one night,  
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee._

_But our love it was stronger by far than the love  
Of those who were older than we -  
Of many far wiser than we -  
And neither the angels in heaven above,  
Nor the demons down under the sea,  
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul  
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;_

_For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams  
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;  
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes  
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;  
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side  
Of my darling -my darling -my life and my bride,  
In the sepulchre there by the sea -  
In her tomb by the sounding sea. _

**Annabel Lee**  
_~By Edgar Allen Poe_

* * *

"True...they are nice to have as backup occasionally, though. But again, where's the 'fun' in that?" Crookedly grinning, Artemis took a deep breath, enjoying for once the clean, briny air coming from the sea only a few hundred feet below them.

"It's not supposed to be fun, per say, but better to have a light heart than to be depressed." she commented, cocking her head and shrugging slightly. "Anyway, to get horribly back on topic, can you explain more in depth the whole 'loss factor' theory to me? I'm not quite as intelligent as you are, so use understandable words. Better yet," she added as an afterthought. "Pronounceable words."

"Certainly," he assured her, then stayed silent a few moments, gathering his thoughts. "To put it very basically, the loss factor isn't a theory. Not exactly. It predicts correctly around 99.9 percent of the time, so it is a very accurate, precise, mathematical sort of prophecy, or rather, 'seeing the future'."

Raising her hand as if she were in school, Holly pointed out, "That still doesn't explain how it works. I know mathematical things are supposed to work perfectly and all that, but still, how? Does it involve something extraordinary? Why hasn't Foaly or some other genius, like Minerva – here she curled her lip – already figured the numbers out?"

"Mathematics do always work – it just depends on your numbers and such. If you don't work a problem or formula correctly, of course it won't come out right. Math keeps to strict lines; one plus one always equals two; it can't equal three. No matter how you add, it'll always be two. In the same way does the loss factor work; if you use the right numbers and such, you will get the right answer.

"The only extraordinary thing about the Loss Factor is the amount of time that it takes to derive. Once you have the formula, all you need to do is make slight modifications, depending on what you're wanting to figure out. Taking the current time, year, all that sort of thing, how far ahead you want to know, who specifically you want to know about, what you want to know, all that you have to take into consideration. That's mostly why it takes so long; you have to precisely have all these smaller factors.

"About your questions; I don't know why Foaly or Minerva hasn't derived the loss factors yet. They certainly have the ability, but it's possible that they have simply never thought about the possibility before. After all, not everyone wants to see the future, as I wanted to."

Holly pushed short bangs back into place, then stated, "Like me."

Nodding, Artemis dropped his hands from their steepled position. "Yes. Like you. Not exactly something common, but then again, you aren't a human. Most of us are very obsessive about what will happen, and they forget that..." he trailed off, realizing something.

"What?" Holly asked gently, turning her ear to him, as if to hear his words better.

After childishly blowing on the window, and scribbling with his finger on the cool glass, Artemis watched the moisture evaporate, then answered. "They forget that the future depends on what choices you make, and how the repercussions of those choices effect you. It depends on who you meet every day, and what people do or don't do to you."

"They forget that the future isn't set in stone..."

* * *

Alina said nothing; she had decided that all it could possibly do was get her even further into Opal's bad books. Even though that seemed impossible, she didn't want to risk angering once again her 'master'. The simple thought that she had to obey this puny, megalomaniac pixie sent her blood rushing fiercely through her body, especially her cheeks, giving her an incredibly flushed appearance. There was something...dependent in Opal, however; something that ripped Alina in two ways; wanting to comfort the wretched pixie, and wanting to murder her. Neither side was dominant yet, so she resorted to silence, while inside she had it out with herself.

"You are too silent, human. And what in Frond's despicable name is wrong with your complexion, girl? There is nothing to blush about here, girl, unless you are marveling at me. In that case, blush away." Opal sneered at the end of this, and Alina was reminded once again of the story in mythology of Narcissus. The man who was so obsessed with looking at his own beauty in bodies of water that he eventually died, and from the place of his death, flowers that bent over the water, as if looking at their reflections grew, forever a reminder of his self-fixation...

She jolted back to reality when a shudder ran through the shuttle, and looked out the window to see darkness all around them, a storm they had happened upon on the way to - where was it Opal had said, Germany? Alina remembered being somewhat excited; the fact that they were going to Germany, where her heritage was had thrilled her. Mother had told her time and time again about the numerous cousins she'd never met who lived there, and Alina had always wanted to meet them. That desire had dimmed slowly but surely since then, and now it was almost nonexistent.

A small whimper alerted her, and if she'd had cat or dog ears, they would have been pricked with the strain of her listening. The noise came again, and she turned slowly, swiveling in her chair to see Opal kneeling on the floor, one hand over an ear and one covering both eyes, as if she were trying to block off all of her senses that alerted her to the storm. Occasionally a choked sob or whimper would escape her, and that was what unnerved Alina so much. Miss Koboi hadn't struck her as the kind of person who would break down like this, especially not in the darkness of a storm. She swiftly unbuckled herself then crouched to the floor, carefully maneuvering her way over to the shuddering form, then asked, "Miss Koboi? Are you-"

With surprising strength, the pixie shoved Alina away, using her long fingernails as well as her palms to get the human away from herself. Surprised, Alina didn't move fast enough and sustained several scratches on her arms, and one long one on her face that trailed down her cheek just under her eye and under her chin, stopping finally halfway down her throat. It wasn't too deep, but it was long, and Alina could feel the blood slowly dribbling down her face. Strangely, the pain didn't seem to affect her at all, but she figured that this would cease soon, as her body was slightly in shock. She chose to ignore the long cut and focused on Opal, and odd concern filling her mind.

As she neared Miss Koboi once more, she was careful to approach from behind, so that the pixie wouldn't be able to lash out with arms this time. Surprisingly enough, she succeeded this time, and from behind, Opal was held in the firm embrace of a human. She seemed not to care, and her arms were kept wrapped around her head, and to her confusion, Alina felt tears spashing on her arms, and they warm. _Just like mine and like any other person's tears..._

_Everyone fears something.

* * *

  
_When Elsa awoke, she didn't open her eyes at first, assuming she was still lying on Aly's bed at home. This became obviously untrue as soon as she paid attention to what she was laying, the softness of the fabrics and the way she had sank into it. Also, the lack of a familiar hardness under her head, a book, was missing as well. She could go on and on about the list of clues; she couldn't smell the familiar, light scent of sweet pea lotion that Aly always used for the exema on the ring finger of her right hand. It usually lingered in the room, though Elsa didn't mind the faint, delicate fragrance.

She feared opening her eyes; she didn't want to see what new place she resided at, and knew that the fairies she had let into the house were the cause of this. They had seemed so kind at first; were they still good, or had her first impression been wrong? They hadn't hurt her at all; simply moved her...but something about all of it seemed more ominous than benign.

Finally deciding to risk it and peel her eyes back to see, Elsa opened her right eye first, then her left, seeing above only a blank metalic ceiling winking back at her. Sitting up, she moaned quietly, groggy after her somewhat untimely nap. It had been somewhere around 2PM when she'd zonked out, and she had no idea what time it was now. Shaking her curiosity, she looked around, and saw...nothing. Or rather, nothing of importance. Around her were walls of the same grey material, and a great, dark window in one wall. The cot she was now sitting on was set in the middle of the small room, and that was it. There was nothing on the floor, and no other furniture or decorations in the room; just stark metal.

Getting up, she began a slow circuit of the room, running her right hand along the walls, searching for any crack that would hint at a door. Finding nothing, she went to the glass, tapping on it. Ten minutes later and much tapping, knocking, screaming, and beating at the glass, nothing had changed except her. She was now breathing faster, and could feel her heart pounding in her chest, speaking of how frightened she truly was.

Finally giving up and knowing there was nothing she could do, Elsa shoved the cot into a corner of the room, pulled the blanket over her shoulders, then sat. She stayed that way a few scant seconds, then pulled her legs up onto the cot, wrapping her suddenly cold and goosebumped skin in the warm, soothing material. Resting her head on her knees, she felt like crying, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to any emotion other than fear.

_Where is Mama? Where's home?_

_Where is Aly?_

* * *

**Chappy Eight; whoo! ^^**

**I can't believe it's 2009 already...it's almost my birthday, too. January 14th; this Wednesday. Technically, four more days until I turn 15. I can't believe I've come so far; I have so many awesome friends whom I love, all of them; I have a somewhat successful account; I have a couple longer fics and a couple drabble series going; I have a DevART account with something on it; I've finally done AgiVega's AF meme(it was really fun, though I sucked at drawing because I had to draw with GIMP). I feel like I've come so far, and I believe I've come a long way as well. I'm a bit wiser now; I'm somewhat more mellow, though all that it takes to change that is Rockstar energy drink(I love the mango orange one best. ^^ Red Bull is okay, but...yeah. Mango orange wins.) I think I've improved in writing and drawing since my last birthday. I hope it's okay to be proud of myself. :P**

**I really like the word benign. It makes me think of Bengal tigers...which right now makes me think of me(I have these awesome tiger-striped cat ears), which makes me think of Nekos, which makes me think of Tokyo Mew Mew, the manga I've just started today and love already. ^^ I'm not too far into it yet, but it's really fun...and cute; I love the art style. :)**

**Anyhoo...comments and constructive crit are always totally welcome; I hugely appreciate everyone who has reviewed. ^^ *glomps all around* I don't live for reviews, but they are nice occasionally. As several readers asked, I went more into detail about the whole Loss Factor thing; I hope I did okay; I love writing about Math stuff, even if I don't like doing Math itself, but...it really can get hard.**

**Hope everyone enjoys reading this; I certainly enjoyed writing it, and have an awesome January weekend! ^^**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:I don't own anyone or anything from the Artemis Fowl series.**

**I do, however, own Alina, Elsa, and the Loss Factor theory thing...jah. :P **

**I've decided to start putting something before my writing; a poem, a song, a quote, basically anything that inspires me while I'm writing, though it may not necessarily relate with what I'm writing. It's fun to do, though...so yeah. ^^ I've also gone back and added quotes and such to all the chapters before, so go have a look! :)**

* * *

_Welcome a world, a land of dreams  
Where something's are nothing and not as they seem  
Where down is up and up is down  
Where you can hide forever and never be found_

_Welcome a voice, a voice never heard  
A voice that teaches lessons but never are learned  
It speaks by the tree  
Where the purple grass grows_

_Welcome a love, a love full of pain  
A love made by sorrow, chaos and rain  
Wipe your tears, cry no longer my dear  
For now you are trapped in a world of dreams_

_Welcome a fear, a fear all your own  
A fear that destroys you and your new home  
No hiding place found, it lurks all around  
This fear has entered your world of dreams_

_This world of dreams, welcome it now  
You can't stay underground, soon you'll be found  
Now hiding my dear, no longer can you wait  
Time to give up dear, debt has to be paid_

_You've spent all your time in a land of dreams  
To escape all that pain and your continuing screams  
No longer can you stay  
Today's your last day_

_Tumbling and twirling, spiraling down  
Life flash before you, silence is bound  
To destroy you at last, the pain never leaves  
From the tree where the purple grass grows  
With its dripping red eves_

_You have to leave this world, a land of dreams  
Leave it now, return to your screams  
Your hold on reality is slipping up fast  
Its time to leave, say good bye to the past  
Its time to wake up_

_Leaving your world, a land of dreams  
Where some things are nothing and not as they seem  
Where down is up and up is down  
Where you can hide forever and never be found._

**Welcome a world, a land of dreams**  
_~By LeRoy Harusha

* * *

_

"Well gee; that changes things." Holly punched his shoulder, breaking him out of his thoughts. "You should have said before that it can change. Heck, I should have guessed. You're right, by the way. The future isn't set in stone; not at all, and because of that, we can go on."

Artemis glared at her, feeling that she didn't completely understand the situation. "Even if the future isn't unchangeable, the Loss Factor theory is still very accurate; everything that it has predicted so far may very well still come to be. So, hypothetically, we could still be 'screwed' in the future, and nothing we are doing or will do will change that fact."

After strapping herself once more into the pilot's seat, Holly took control of the shuttle once more, answering briefly before she shifted all her focus to driving. "Better to still try, though. Sometimes all one can do is have faith that everything will pull through. What do you think I had to go on through all of our adventures? Even I'm not invincible, you know."

"Yes, I know..." Clearly Artemis's mind was elsewhere, so Holly turned her full attention to piloting, seeing that they were drawing ever nearer to Opal's destination in Germany. Briefly wondering why Germany was the chosen place, she began steeling herself for the fights, work, and risk that was sure to follow their landing.

_Just like the last six times..._ she mused inwardly, a small bubble of laughter escaping her throat. She, Artemis, and the others had been through so much together; they were almost like an inseparable family. _No, not a family,_ she decided. _More like we're all separate magnets kept in one box and shaken around. We always end up with each other, whatever comes our way. And that's the way I like it; everyday life would be so boring without that human to stir things up every now and then. I sincerely hope that our adventures continue for years to come.  
_

The genius was still sitting, staring out the window as the stormy ocean flashed past, grieving silently, though he would not let the reason he sorrowed show.

_No, you're not invincible at all._ he sighed inwardly, the dull, aching burden of knowledge settling once again over his being.

* * *

After many long minutes, Opal had finally pushed Alina away, disappearing into her private cabin in the rear of the spacious ship without a single word of thanks or dismissal to her 'servant'. Not that the girl cared much at all; things were generally more pleasant without Opal around to stir things up. There was something melancholy about the pixie, though; that was the part that made Alina want to comfort her. Sometimes the fairy seemed just like any other girl Alina had known; a girl her age in need of a friend.

_So how is it that she's an accomplished fairy who's patented hundreds of inventions and gizmos_ - Opal had made sure that Alina knew of her great fame - _and still she's somehow like a little girl? Certainly after doing everything she's done, she doesn't still regret it?_ Shaking these thoughts from her head, Alina fumbled her way as quietly as possible to the kitchen area of the shuttle, rummaging through the cupboards, fridge, and drawers, looking for something that she would actually want to eat.

There was a usual array; ketchup, syrup, butter, milk, everything you'd find in a normal kitchen excluding meats and that sort of thing. Apparently, fairies were vegetarians to a point. The labels were a bit odd, though, and in a language and writing that Alina couldn't understand, though it was probably because they were fairy-made rather than made by humans. When she had assembled a rough sort of sandwich, she took a huge bite and felt her eyes begin to water right away. The food tasted fine for the most part, but there must have been some sort of spicy plant or spice added to the mustard, because her tongue encountered it right away.

Forcing herself to finish eating the sandwich, Alina washed her hands off quickly, not bothering to clean up the mess she'd made, and wandered back into the main control and lounge area. She entertained herself for a short while reading more on Opal's achievements on the computer that was solely for that purpose, but soon grew tired of reading, especially when it came to the parts where Opal murdered some Commander named Julius Root, and all the events following. Knowing that Opal had actually caused someone's death, completely on purpose changed Alina's perspective on the pixie, but for some reason she still felt a certain amount of sorrow for the seemingly lonesome pixie.

A flash of movement outside caught her eye, and she scrambled over to it, anxious to see something new rather than long pages of slowly scrolling text. She looked hard, straining her eyes left and right, attempting to pinpoint whatever had flashed. There wasn't much to see other than stormy seas and sky, and occasional lightning. She was ready to put off what she had seen as a flash of lightning, but when it flashed next, something relatively shuttle-shaped came into view, though it was fairly far behind.

That would explain why she had only barely seen it; there were some things that even the shields of a shuttle couldn't stand up to, and natural electricity was one of those things, apparently. It probably disrupted the vibrations in some odd way that would take several hours in a senior lecture hall in some college to explain, but that was the least of worries. It was gaining on Opal's shuttle and would be alongside in a matter of minutes, and the pixie must be told.

_The things I do for this insane fairy..._ Alina shook her head, then trotted off swiftly to Opal's chambers, knocking and wondering why she was even bothering, especially when boarding would probably mean her freedom.

* * *

A sharp, nearly inaudible squeak caused Elsa to jerk her head upright, glancing frantically around, trying to pinpoint where the sound had come from. She finally caught sight of a door where there had been no door before, and emerging from it were what looked like miniature doctors; at least the doctors Elsa had seen before. They were fairies too; she could tell from the ears the surgical masks were stretched over.

As they approached, she shied away, pressing herself into the corner her cot was situated in and making herself as small as possible. The air around the 'doctors' was intense, and frightened her immensely, though she couldn't exactly say why yet. Deep beneath the layers of fake stupidity, her true intelligence lurked, and what it was telling her was nothing good.

Of course, she was somewhere underground; she guessed some sort of facility made for studying humans, but if that was accurate, she was a bearded idiot - which, of course, she wasn't. Maybe it wasn't as bad as that; maybe it was worse, but so far, she didn't have enough info to tell. She didn't recognize any of the masked elves; of course not. She had been accompanied and kidnapped by some sort of field fairies; these were obviously a different section, if not kind, of fairy.

"S...stay away from me!" she managed to squeak at them, though it obviously had no effect. Clearing her voice, she called, "Really; you don't know what you're dealing with. I'm big enough to hurt you; I know that, and I can do it if I need to." she informed them coldly, though it would have hurt her heart to actually need to hurt, let alone kill any of them. Curse her love for anything smaller than herself; it had always been a weakness.

_Not necessarily a weakness,_ she reminded herself quickly. _Loving things smaller than you, hating to hurt them isn't wrong; no, not at all. _Distracted, she was too slow to recoil from the lunge of one of the fairies and stared in surprise at the needle that now was settled in her thigh. It wasn't particularly painful, courtesy of an extremely sharp needle, shock, and the actual size of the needle; it hadn't been very long at all.

She began to say something, but a yawn cut her off and she had to try again. "That wasn't...very...nice..." she trailed off into sleep, no longer able to keep herself awake. Even without the sedatives just injected, she would have been conquered by sleep soon; she had been dozing off when they had entered.

_What h a p p e n s n o w...?

* * *

_**Whee, Chapter 9!**

**I'm really determined to finish this; I believe I will. And I'm sorry about how long it took me to update; I've just been so busy with school, parties, church, and all that...I haven't had a lot of time on the computer at all, so I've only just now got to writing. :P I'll try to write more, though, and I'll be working on chapters ahead of time more, so that I'll have them ready for whenever I need to post one or whatever...**

**Yes! Elsa isn't stupid! I changed my mind about her character; she isn't really stupid; it's a mask she uses, and it works pretty well, eh? :P Don't worry; she's not a super genius at all; she's just...different. ^^ But yeah. Writing is fun. :)**

**I had my birthday on January 14th! I can't believe that I'm 15 years old; it's pretty insane to me. I've been on nearly a year; my anniversary is May 17th! That's a week and a half or so before my little sis's birthday...but jah. :) It feels like I only just joined the other day, so this is huge to me...but thank you everyone who's stayed with me, reviewing and all that awesome jazz during that time! :)  
**

**Comments and constructive crit are always welcome; any feedback is pretty much welcome to me. ^^**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:I don't own anyone or anything from the Artemis Fowl series.**

**I do, however(Yay again!) own Alina and Elsa Blau, the 'Loss Factor' theory, and the...light things. At least, the difference in them. :) All else credited to Eoin Colfer.**

* * *

_Walking upon the sand of the beaches in your life._

_You leave marks embedded as you go._

_A mark of your passing which may last forever,_

_Or quickly washed away with the changing tide._

_Life is fickle and impressions made quick._

_Judgments made in ignorance set our path,_

_A friendship which may have lasted a lifetime,_

_Is over looked because of vanity or prejudice._

_A shame that we are influenced by petty things_

_Such as looks, speech, affluence or intelligence._

_Never taking the time to truly know someone_

_Who they are and what they've accomplished._

_Tis said to slow down and smell the roses,_

_But many times we cut them down to take._

_Having them for the beauty they possess,_

_Not thinking of killing them in the process._

_If you leave your mark on the beach,_

_Make sure it's one that stands against time,_

_A mark that can be viewed with pride,_

_Not one to be lost in the changing tides._

**The Changing Tides****_  
_**_~Randall Beers_

* * *

"Miss Koboi?" Alina knocked hesitantly on the door to her 'master's' chambers and waited for several seconds. No reply or sign of acknowledgment came, so she knocked again, more heavily this time. Still no answer. Sighing, she pushed the door open, looking around in time to see Opal, wielding a knife and sliding it slowly, almost lovingly down her arm.

Not thinking of consequences, the girl raced to the pixie's side, trying to pull the knife away from her. She sliced her fingers accidentally on the blade a few times before she managed to pry it from Opal's grip, and flung it to the side of the room where it would be less accessible. Breathing heavily but filled with adrenaline, she turned to the pixie, ready to blow up, but when she saw Opal's face, all the angry words inside shriveled up, leaving just one word.

"Why?"

As the pixie shook her head, refusing to answer, she gazed at the cut, already disappearing from her flawless skin. Her magic wiped away the cut and the scar that would have persisted, leaving only the blood that had trickled down her arm to dry.

Since Opal wouldn't speak, Alina got up cautiously, holding her cut fingers carefully and keeping a sharp eye on the pixie, to make sure she wouldn't go after the knife again. She made her way over to the vanity sink and, searching for and finding a cloth, wet it and carried it back to Opal, gently rinsing her bloody arm off. When that was finished, she used a clean corner of the cloth to clean out her own cuts, which were shallow enough not to warrant the use of magic, or so she thought. As she cleaned, she spoke, telling Koboi of the seemingly pursuing ship.

"Where is it?" the pixie asked sharply, all thoughts of before forgotten.

"I'm not sure now, but when I saw it, it was somewhere to the northwest, coming in to intercept us. It'll be here in bare minutes, if I'm any judge of its speed." As she spoke this sentence, they were walking briskly to the cockpit of the shuttle and getting in their usual spots. Though Alina had only been on the shuttle a short time, she already had found a favorite spot to sit and still be able to see everything.

"It's that bloody pair, Artemis Fowl and Captain Short, chasing me one more time. Did I not teach them the last time? Honestly, will they never learn that they cannot defeat me?" she snorted her disgust and upped the speed of the shuttle, obviously thinking that they would not have to accelerate very quickly to outfly the others. Of course, she had probably forgotten how excellent of a pilot that Short was, and they were rammed by the other shuttle within seconds.

As Alina picked herself up off the floor, she heard the unmistakable whining sound of magnetic clamps being fired to the side of the ship, and felt immediately the slowing of their shuttle. Opal was furious, but threw something to Alina that turned out to be a gun. A Neutrino something, the fairy girl Holly had called it before. Some sort of number came after.

The side door of the shuttle was pried open, and sheeting rain obscured the view of the person entering, though it was almost certainly Captain Holly Short. Alina almost hoped it was, but there was something a little more sinister about the figure. Something a little more...evil?

* * *

Holly had caught sight of Koboi's shuttle earlier, though the first sign had been on the tracking device, reading that they were nearing the shuttle. For once, Holly was puzzled by the pixie instead of angered; usually Koboi traveled much, much more quickly, not to mention that she rarely ever used a shuttle that was not of her own build.

Just then, Foaly's voice came through the radio in her helmet, which she had slipped on only moments before. "Holly, you there?"

"Of course I'm here, Foaly. Where else would I be when Opal's on the loose?" she raised an eyebrow, only afterward realizing how Artemis-like the movement was.

"Probably following her. But listen; I was just checking the maximum security prisons in Atlantis, especially Opal's, and she's not there. I'm thinking this Opal that you're following created some sort of magical manikin that acted as the present Koboi to stay in the cell, while she 'kidnapped', so to speak, the present Koboi. You only saw one Opal; it was the past Opal, so what happened to the present Opal?"

"Apparently this is going to get more interesting," the centaur continued, grating on Holly's nerves wile he enjoyed presenting one of his long-winded explanations. "Since both Opals are near each other, because we assume that past Opal has present Opal with her, a surmised phenomenon nicknamed the 'Cross-Doppelganger effect' might have taken place, in which the consciousness, if not the bodies, of the two Opals have been combined."

"Which means?" Holly groaned, knowing that there was worse to come.

"Which means that both Opals are in one body; the body of the past Opal. Present Opal's body is probably located somewhere on the shuttle, but its mind is empty. Therefore, if two minds are enclosed in one body, doesn't it stand to reason that the two intellects would be combined? I wonder if you noticed anything different about Opal when you met her in Alina's home? Was there anything that stood out to your vision?

Thinking about this, Holly gasped silently. "Her height! She was taller than a normal fairy, though not as tall as the present Opal. Taller than me."

"Err...that's not exactly what I'm talking about, but that is interesting. Usually, this Cross-Doppelganger effect is only with minds, but...if the two Opals were fused, not only in mind but in body...then that would explain the extra height, as well as any scars that present Opal would have but past Opal wouldn't have."

"How does that work, then?" Artemis entered the conversation at last, after listening intently. "That doesn't work at all with the 'laws' of time travel, or science. In fact, it doesn't follow any laws, except maybe the laws of magic. If Opal plied all her magic, maybe she could have used some extreme form of the _mesmer_ to inhibit the body of present Opal, similar to the 'possession' she used for my mother. If this Cross-Doppelganger effect is real, then it would be no problem for past Opal to completely fuse her body with present Opal's, creating a new, highly intelligent...monster."

"Right on, Artemis. Right now, the best thing you can do is catch up with Opal and...well, kill her now. If they really are fused, then their intelligence grow, because of each other. You have to kill her before she gets too far along; even now it'll be a challenge."

"So we've finally got to kill her..." Artemis mused, not entirely happy with the thought, but knowing it had to be done. "Are you ready for that, Holly?"

"I'm ready whatever it takes, Artemis." she replied honestly, the truth of this statement clear in her eyes. She fired the clamps, and they were alongside the other shuttle, hatch to hatch, and sliding the door of their shuttle open. She fought with the latch on the other door, finally resorting to her Neutrino to blast the lock. From there, the door cracked slightly open, giving her access to Koboi's shuttle.

"Let's go, Artemis." she called to him through her helmet and into his earpiece. "Let's get this over and done with for once. After this, we can take a break from saving the world, eh?"

Her light-hearted banter did little to improve Artemis's mood, but he replied with a "Yes, Holly." anyway, and crept to the door, preparing to follow her.

_How little does she know how much it really will take in the end,_ he pondered, pressing himself against the side of the shuttle, just inside the door frame. _The price is too high. It's always too high; why do we even bother, after everything?_

* * *

Elsa woke up groggily, attempting to sit up immediately. She was unsuccessful for two reasons; a., she was tied down, which made things a bit difficult, and b., she was incredibly dizzy. Even if she had been able to sit up, she would have either been horribly sick or fallen back against the pillow once again. She screwed her eyes shut, her eyes turning everything into a blurred, nauseating kaleidoscope of colors. Wait, colors?

She cautiously opened one eye - her good right eye - to a slit, peering through it with an amount of dread that was equaled only by her dizziness. What she saw was nothing extraordinary in itself, but still it shocked herself. She was in a normal enough room, but the walls, oh the walls! They were covered with colors, all kinds of colors, every shade! It hadn't been her vision blurring and distorting things; it was truly the walls of the room.

Usually, Elsa loved all the colors, no matter what combination they were in; after all, color is a wonderful thing! Would we want to live life without color? No, probably not. But these colors, there was something sickening in the whorls and writhing rainbows. Elsa could stand up to this visual torture no more; her body revolted and she was violently and spasmodically struck ill. The straps holding her down were suddenly loosened and completely released, allowing her to bend over the railings to vomit. A cleaning robot appeared and cleaned up the mess, leaving nothing of her sickness but the empty, horrid feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Even on the floor, though, there was no release of the vibrant, vibrating colors, and Elsa stumbled around the room, moaning and clutching her head. The colors were meant to evoke more than sickness; she could feel herself turning strangely numb, though she could still move perfectly. Her movements became jerky and she hurt herself more than once. There was no feeling anywhere in her body; she couldn't even feel the pain. Her eyes would not obey her, would not blink, would not move. She could only stare at the colors, still moving, still sickening.

A frighteningly insane laugh echoed around the room, and Elsa desperately tried again to move, to find where the sound came from. She could now see two shoes, neat and extravagantly 'barf' green resting in front of her eyes. An odd face, red, chubby, and with shiny, bulging eyes next came into view, as whoever it was knelt to stare into her eyes. The eyes, she realized dully, were not bulging, or shiny; they were goggles of some sort, and they were not being removed.

"Well, little human. Did you enjoy the lights? They're my own patent. Well, mine, and mine, I suppose you could say." Another laugh, more of an evil giggle this time. The voice was high, then low, then high again, as if the person speaking could not make up their mind on what pitch they wanted to speak in. It was somehow familiar, though; Elsa could have sworn she'd heard it before, and at home too. Only one, though, before Aly-

A gloved hand reached out, pulling her eyelids down and taping them shut, since they would not close and stay closed.

"Too bad you are so small. Ah well; with some special tweaks, you will be perfect. Your life is about to begin, little Elsa Blau."

* * *

**Yayz, another chapter! Sorry it's so late, but...I haven't had a lot of time for writing lately. *evil laughter* Killer mood lights! Something along those lines, in case anyone was wondering. The plot just got a whole new awesome twist; I'm really enjoying writing it. Writing the whole 'Cross-Doppelganger' effect thing was fun. I know it doesn't 'exist', but hey, this is fanfiction world! Anything can happen! ^^ I love the idea, though; it might turn out even more confusing. **

**By the way, you want something confusing? Try being decided about being undecided while trying to decide on a decision with one two choices, which shouldn't be a big decision, but it is, because it's impossible to be truly undecided. Because when you're undecided, you've decided to be undecided. So therefore...**

**Yeah. Fun stuff. ^^**

**Oh, and if anyone's interested, the story Artemis Fowl: The Enigma Complex by Tamdiu is amazing! So if anyone's in search of a good, new fanfic, head over there, because it's got a lot of promise. :)  
**

** Anyhoo, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! **


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:I don't own anyone or anything from the Artemis Fowl series. Do I look like a 40+ old man? Last time I checked, nope. :P**

**Happily, though, I do own Alina and Elsa Blau, as well as the Loss Factor idea. Oh, and the killer mood lights. ^^ Whoopie-yi-yay.**

* * *

_"Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden."_

_~Phaedrus_**

* * *

**As Holly entered the shuttle, the first thing she noticed was that there was a hatch on the other side of the shuttle. The second thing she noticed was that there was nobody left in the room but Alina, huddling up against the wall, eyes wide. She wasn't tied up; at least not with any visible bonds, but she hugged her legs to her chest with a grip so tight that her knuckles showed white.

"Alina?" Holly asked softly, afraid to speak any louder than a whisper. "Where is Opal? I'm here to-" A creaking noise startled her, and she spun to see that it was only Artemis, following her into the shuttle.

The girl remained mute, and Holly noticed a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. Before she could protest, Holly forced her mouth open, horrified to see that the girl now had no tongue. The wound was ragged, as if recent, and there were no signs of healing. Holly, of course, sent healing sparks to seal the wound, at least, but more she could not do.

Oddly, the sparks fizzled and died before they reached the wound; Alina was gesticulating furiously, but Holly could make no sense of her jerky movements. Artemis gently pushed Holly aside and handed a notepad to the girl, so she could write what she was attempting to explain. With the attached digi-pen, Alina went to work, writing as quickly as possible.

_I'm resistant to magic. Don't know why. Not that Opal cared._

Artemis had a reply ready almost instantly. "Where is Opal now? Once we find and take care of her, you'll be released from the seal of blood that she made you sign with."

Alina shook her head first, then nodded, taking the pen and pad to write more.

_Don't know where Opal is. She jumped out the other hatch. Think she's still going to Germany. Don't know where though._

After musing over this for a longer time, Holly made a spit second decision. "We're going to Germany, too. Artemis, program the other shuttle to go back to the port; we'll take hers instead. If we're going to some sort of secret lab like she had before, then what better disguise to go in then her own shuttle?"

"True. In that case, I will prepare the other shuttle. Have Alina help you move things in here; I shouldn't take very long." He disappeared into their own shuttle while Holly explained what she wanted the other human to do. When she was sure that the girl knew what she wanted her to do, she followed Artemis's trail into the other shuttle, though she headed immediately to the section they had set aside for carrying all sorts of weaponry and supplies.

Artemis had paused a moment in his programming to glance back at Holly and Alina. So long as they didn't suspect what he was doing, he could go all out, but his time was running short. Turning back to his work, he continued coding the computer to direct the shuttle where he wanted it to go.

Though where he was programming it to fly wasn't the same place Holly had ordered him to.

* * *

"Miss Koboi. We saw that your shuttle was delayed, so we came to collect you. I hope you do not mind too terribly."

The pixie shook her head, seemingly confused, though only for a moment. "Is S_he_ waiting for me? Did the testing on Subject 001 proceed according to our plans?"

"Of course, Miss Koboi. The experiment went perfectly; all was as it was meant to happen. Since then, she has proceeded with Subjects 002 through 009; all have turned out the same way. Currently S_he_ is perfecting them where they had need of perfection. Most needed an agi-boost, and one or two needed an intel-boost. All but 001, 005, and 009 are ready now. Though the three were in need or further 'englightening', they will be ready soon.

"And now, we are nearing the base quickly. _She_ will be expecting you; is there anything you require before we arrive?"

"No, no...but my servant can be let out now. Oh, and I will be unable to concentrate fully on the meeting; I have a minor magic running. It does not take up much of my mind's power, but it takes away from my overall concentration. I need a drink; let my servant prepare it for me, but show her to the galley of this shuttle. She is accustomed to caring for my needs; I require no other assistance."

"Of course, my Lady. By your leave, I shall depart now and see to the pilots; they are unaccustomed to the landing bay, so I am here for guidance." The figure bowed, the long black coattails flaring out behind him impressively. He stood after a moment and disappeared down a hallway, and the last thing Opal saw of him was the coattails, a small black flick of them as they disappeared around the corner.

_Subject 006 is really very elegant,_ she mused, then snapped her fingers for her servant. The girl curtsied deeply, as Opal had commanded and taught her to and was escorted down the hallway to the galley by another servant, though not one of Opal's personal servants. _I must make sure the rest are the same way; courtesy is desirable, after all. What was his name before? Ehh...Sebastian something. Very fitting; you would have thought he used to be some sort of butler, the way he treats me. It is pleasant, though; I shall have to request him personally for my unit, after _She_ and I are finished with everything._

_I cannot wait, _Opal decided, massaging sweet-smelling lotion into her hands, though it wasn't needed with her flawless skin. _Until this plan goes through. 006 is already a favorite of mine.  
_

Shrugging thoughts aside, however, she closed her eyes, concentrating on the 'minor magic' she was using. It really was very useful, this type of magic; it had proved useful before and was doing so once more. Moments later, she settled down to a relaxing drink of chai and hot chocolate, a favorite combination of hers.

Yes, things were going wonderfully.

* * *

"Respond, 009." A brisk, sharp voice commanded the figure slumped against the wall. It looked like a man-turned boy, but with the best parts of both combined. It was leaning as if it were a doll, with arms hanging. When the voice snapped out at it, though, it jumped to attention, as it had been recently programmed. There were only two voices that it would respond to in such a fashion; others had various degrees of command, but there were few who had been chosen to wield such power.

"How are your intuition mods and implants working? I would like an accurate report this time." the female figure whose voice controlled Subject 009's every thought and action ordered the man-boy.

"Of course, my Lady. Intuition mods are working at 10% of their capability limits, and if needed they can jump to 100% in less than half a second. Implants are fully functional; do you require a demonstration?" The voice of 009 echoed eerily on the metal walls of the chamber, and in the stark lighting, the sharp, light blue eyes stare directly at the female who commands him.

A short nod, then the sharp voice pierces the silence once more. "Proceed."

Subject 009's shape distorted; long whip-like metal bars scraped the edges of the room, and the blue eyes are no longer blue. Bloody red is the color of 009's irises; a color that seems to color his vision as well.

The female laughed lightly, then bid him return to normal. After he became the doll-like limp figure once more, she departed the room, only to enter another. There are two people in this room; a young girl and an older teenaged girl. They are leaning close to one another, and both are just as limp as Subject 009 was.

At the female's command, they jump to salute, though the little girl seems a bit hesitant. After receiving the needed information on their intuition mods and implants, the female demands a show of the implants. The teenaged girl immediately changes, and the female can feel the tingle of electricity from across the room.

"Very good, Subject 005," the female turned to the little girl, and without waiting for an explanation for her reluctance to change, she clapped her hands, causing a strong, painful electrical current to course through her limbs.

The little girl took the punishment, falling to the floor and convulsing, but when the electricity dissipated, she stood as tall as she could, glaring defiance at the female.

"I command you to submit, Subject 001; reveal your implants immediately, before I must take more painful measures." the sharp voice is irresistible; never before has there been a voice so terribly commanding.

Yet under the pressure, the little 001 remained strong. She crossed her arms, still glaring at the female. "I refuse. No matter how many lights you show me, I will never obey you."

"Then you have sealed your fate, excuse the cliché phrase. There is nothing more for you now, little 001; I will have to completely and permanently reprogram you. But since you do not seem to care about yourself or your body, I doubt it will matter much to you."

"So be it, then. I would rather die as a person then as some...screwed up robot that can't say no to an order from you, you ugly old witch!" She stomped her foot, as if she were a spoiled child – which she was, to a point, but there was no way to avoid what was coming; not now.

The female shakes her head, but it is too late for Subject 001. "Subject 005; subjugate 001 and bring her with me. Your friendship with her is terminated; you would do well to remember that. There is no room for friends in this place; it is something you must remember, no matter what. Come."

Subject 001 fought, but she was no match for 005 in her released state; in a matter of seconds she was subdued and unconscious. Subject 005 could no longer remember what kinship she had had with 001; the Lady's orders were meant to be followed to the letter. If she had been commanded to forget, then forget was all she could do.

There was no possible way to stand up to either the Lady or Miss Koboi; she had seen 001 try every way she could think of to escape, but no ideas had worked thus far; now she had the permanent self-removal to look forward to. At least this way she would be unable to remember anything, and therefore she would have no painful memories.

Subject 005 sighed inaudibly, but a split second afterwards, she had no idea what she had sighed about. After all, Subject 001 had proved very troublesome to the Lady; she would have to be modified once more.

Thus was the apparent power of the Lady; nearly instant memory loss. But after all, she was the Lady. And the Lady was capable of anything she put her sights on, whether it was revenge, a person, or world domination; it was impossible for her to lose.

* * *

**Ooh...so what's going on? Is this confusing? I just want to remind everyone that, like the quote says, things are not always as they seem. The same has to do with this story; many things are totally not as they seem. :)**

**I'm sorry this chapter has taken so long; it's entirely my fault. I just haven't had much computer time lately, and I've become obsessed with Bleach(the manga. So awesome!), and you can totally see the effects in this chapter. :P But I've had a lot of thinking time, so I have many, many more ideas for this fic, so I'm really happy about that; writing is awesome. I promise that the next chapters will not take nearly as long as this one has, though; I'm never going to let an AF fic go that long again. Once again, I'm sorry everyone who's been reading this!**

**I'm wondering if I'll be able to make the chapter quota for this fic; I'm definitely sure that I'll get to 20 chapters, but I'm not sure if I'll make 30. After all, I was never really good at planning out that kind of thing. :P But it's totally okay; I'll be happy no matter how long this fic is - or isn't, in that case.**

**I hope you all enjoy this chapter, though; I had loads of fun writing it! ^^**

**(Oh, and I apologize for it not being quite as long as the others...but yeah. There's only so far you can push a piece of writing, as many of you know. ^^)  
**


	12. Author's Note Please Read!

**Ah...I needed to make sure any readers know this.**

**As of now, I'm rewriting this story, The Loss Factor. It hasn't had the greatest beginning, and I'm having problems with some things. Most of all, though, I know that this can be so much better than it is already. I'm sorry to cut it off with such a cliffhanger, but...yeah.**

**Also, I have been really swamped with schoolwork, and I'm actually starting to have a bit of a social life as well, so I haven't had much time for being at home and writing. So if I was still writing, updates would be really, really slow, to the point of only one a month. That would suck, wouldn't it?**

**I promise I'm not abandoning this though; I'm just rewriting it. I'll have a new story up, so check my profile in a week or so, and there should be the first chapter of the rewrite up, hopefully.**

**But yeah...I wanted to let everyone know, and I hope you'll all forgive me. Oh, and if anyone has questions, either Review me here, PM me, or Email me( tyrison7 hotmail. com without the spaces) and ask.**

**Thank you everyone who's been with me/stayed with me this far; I really appreciate it! ^_^  
**

**~SLS**


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